Photo: Eric Fischer · CC BY 2.0At 8.8%, unemployment in Salisbury is higher than in 91% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 5% of workers (Maryland 19%). The two grades for Salisbury are C− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Household incomes here are lower than in 76% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Salisbury in brief
No single place dominates Salisbury’s commute
The biggest draw, Selbyville, DE, gets only 3% of working residents, and 53% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Salisbury residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Salisbury draws workers from far and wide
The 25,212 jobs in Salisbury are filled from a wide area. Salisbury’s own residents hold 16% and the ten next-biggest home towns 11%; the other 73% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Salisbury is where the jobs are
Salisbury has 25,212 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Salisbury are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 31 across Maryland. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Maryland worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Why Salisbury gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Salisbury is better than 17% of U.S. towns, #257 of 261 in Maryland. Job access by car holds Salisbury’s grade up (ahead of 64% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (24.3%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Salisbury could be anywhere from D to C.
Commuting in to Salisbury: where workers come from
Where Salisbury clocks in
3% of workers
2% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
How many people are in Salisbury by day
On a workday 8,682 residents head out to work, 3,983 work right here, and 21,229 people come in from elsewhere.
About 46,000 people are in Salisbury on a workday afternoon, 37% more than live here.
2.0 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
A commute of about 22 minutes in Salisbury
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Salisbury workers work from home, vs 19% across Maryland. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 14,572 commuters (the 5% who work from home are left out). Across Maryland: 80% drive alone, 5% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The 25,212 jobs based in Salisbury
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Salisbury, 2013 → 2023: 22,166 → 25,212. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Salisbury’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Salisbury, by distance
About 23% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Salisbury, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Salisbury is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #124 of 261 in Maryland. Both inputs place Salisbury near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 15,319 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 12.4% of Salisbury households have no vehicle (Maryland 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Salisbury’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Salisbury compares with U.S. towns of 24,000 to 46,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Severna Park MD | 40,228 | $170K | 2.8% | 2.7% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | North Laurel MD | 25,563 | $123K | 4.7% | 2.2% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 45 | Arnold MD | 24,303 | $142K | 3.1% | 2.6% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,183 | Corsicana TX | 25,487 | $57K | 18.1% | 6.4% | 33% | C− |
| 1,184 | Searcy AR | 24,351 | $52K | 18.8% | 6.1% | 47% | C− |
| 1,185 | Salisbury MD | 33,845 | $59K | 24.3% | 8.8% | 31% | C− |
| 1,186 | Russellville AR | 29,521 | $51K | 20.8% | 5.9% | 48% | C− |
| 1,187 | Hopkinsville KY | 30,411 | $49K | 19.3% | 6.2% | 59% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,255 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Salisbury, the top three, the last and three more from Maryland.
How Salisbury compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Fruitland (2%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Salisbury’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Salisbury: questions
What is the median household income in Salisbury?
$58,576 (±$4,167) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,678 across Maryland and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Salisbury?
24.3%, against 9.4% across Maryland and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Salisbury?
22 minutes each way on average, against 31 across Maryland and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Salisbury work?
31% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Selbyville (3%, 22 mi), Baltimore (2%, 84 mi), Hurlock (2%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Salisbury walkable?
Salisbury is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Salisbury without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Salisbury, from the people who make the trip.
More of Salisbury
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.